rorkesdriftvc.com :: View topic - RD painting on book on War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 5:35 pm

Someone drew my attention to a book called
War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History
by David M. Crowe

http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/war-crimes-genocide-and-justice-david-m-crowe/?K=9780230622241

Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2014 6:15 pm

I haven't read it (nor had I heard of it until now), but chapter three is entitled "Crimes and Colonialism", so I guess that this is where we'll be ... ?

Surprised

Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 12:11 pm

I have been in contact with David M Crowe who kindly responded, saying that the decision was not his to use the painting:

The cover was designed in London by my publisher and presented to me as a fait accompli.
I do cover the Zulu wars in the book most briefly, but certainly not enough to warrant such a cover.

As we probably all imagined, it makes an attractive cover by which to sell books.
I'm not sure who has copyright for the painting or why they would have given permission for its use.

Posted: Wed Aug 13, 2014 3:14 pm

Alan,

The picture - as I'm sure that you already know - is in the NSW Art Gallery (http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/735/), but I'm not sure if they'll own the copyright.

AMB

Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 7:20 pm

The Art Gallery of New South Wales tell me that the copyright to the painting is held by
Bridgeman Images in London. I've contacted them but so far they haven't responded.

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 4:31 pm

It's a perverse use of an iconic image. Very poor editorial judgement.

Peter

Posted: Wed Sep 03, 2014 6:10 pm

I have now received a response from the publisher:-

Please allow me to introduce myself as the US-based history editor for Palgrave Macmillan: my predecessor, Chris Chappell was the editor for David Crowe's War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History.

I recently received your email regarding your concern over Palgrave's choice of cover image for the book, the painting by de Neuville. I understand your dismay over this decision, though I can tell you that our design team chose it not simply for its dramatic impact but because also because Prof. Crowe does indeed discuss this battle within the book: there was an editorial purpose behind this choice. The image was carefully discussed and the design carefully planned by our team.

Again, I certainly do understand your concern and I also sympathize: I most likely would not have chosen this particular image myself. I can assure you, however, that this was a very careful decision made by my colleagues here.

Please do let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Best wishes,
Kristin

Kristin Purdy
Editor, History
Palgrave Macmillan
175 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10010

I had to confess to not having read the book to assess the reference, and I'm now intrigued.

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 10:29 am

Alan

Thanks for the follow up and interesting that the author and current editor seem less than thrilled with the cover choice.

Peter

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 12:56 pm

My conclusion is that the task was handed over to a designer and asked to make it 'shout out'.
I think it is well designed but it wasn't the right person to choose a related image. I don't think
any harm has been done, depending of course what the contents say.

I said to Kristin that we would call off the mass picket outside their offices.

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2014 7:44 pm

RD was an interesting choice.

An attempt to maximize sales. To catch the buying public's eye. Maybe a UK/Commonwealth buying public would be [are?] less outraged by the use of RD than those in the US might have been [?] if pictures of My Lai (March 1968) (for example) had been emblazoned across the front of this book.

AMB

Posted: Sat Sep 06, 2014 5:07 pm

My 'ghost reader' has obtained the book and after an initial look at the book and makes the following observations.

On first glance through contents, specifically Zulu War related, it appears to cover the whole campaign
in less than two pages (74 and 75).

Mention is made of the nature of the Zulu ritual of cutting open the British dead, but also mutilation,
including a short sentence about 'the cruel fate of the little drummer boys, who were hung and
butchered'.

However, this is of most interest -

'After another battle at nearby Rorke's Drift, victorious British troops, aided by an NNC contingent,
captured about 200 wounded or exhausted Zulus. They bayoneted, beat, or speared the captured
Zulus to death because they were so short on ammunition'.

Anyone any thoughts on that?

Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 4:58 pm

Alan wrote:

I have now received a response from the publisher:-

Please allow me to introduce myself as the US-based history editor for Palgrave Macmillan: my predecessor, Chris Chappell was the editor for David Crowe's War Crimes, Genocide, and Justice: A Global History.

I recently received your email regarding your concern over Palgrave's choice of cover image for the book, the painting by de Neuville. I understand your dismay over this decision, though I can tell you that our design team chose it not simply for its dramatic impact but because also because Prof. Crowe does indeed discuss this battle within the book: there was an editorial purpose behind this choice. The image was carefully discussed and the design carefully planned by our team.

Again, I certainly do understand your concern and I also sympathize: I most likely would not have chosen this particular image myself. I can assure you, however, that this was a very careful decision made by my colleagues here.

Please do let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Best wishes,
Kristin

Kristin Purdy
Editor, History
Palgrave Macmillan
175 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10010

I had to confess to not having read the book to assess the reference, and I'm now intrigued.

This sounds like a load of cobblers to me

Posted: Fri Mar 30, 2018 1:29 pm

I've got this book, but have only glanced at various paragraphs throughout, and as you'd expect, it makes very uncomfortable reading. Fortunately, the author has refrained from including any photographs in the book, which if were there, I wouldn't read nor keep it in my collection.

Obviously the title describes what you should expect in the book, however, I only purchased from Amazon out of curiosity for why it had such an image on the cover. However, I would not have purchased it on any other occasion.

In conclusion, I feel the author is genuine in his attempting to present the controversial and ugly aspects of war, rather than for any suspect reason.

His notes are vast, taking up almost 100 pages.

Finally, the painting on the front cover should not have been used, and hope any future reprint, that the publishers reconsider greatly to have it changed to something more suitable for the contents